The Parish of St Peter and St Paul at Mappowder

Mappowder is a village of some seventy houses, including outlying farms (population about a hundred and seventy). The centre of the village is listed as a conservation area. For most of the 20th century, the village economy was dependent on the dairy farming industry with a number of small farms. As farming has changed with farms becoming larger units, their number has decreased. The population is now a mix of those who have chosen to come and retire in the village and those who earn their livings elsewhere, with a few of the original village families still left. There is a very small number of children and teenagers who travel outside the village to schools. There are nine on the fairer share count. The church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The congregation is drawn from the whole Benefice and numbers attending services have been slowly reducing, the best attended service being monthly Morning Praise with usually between twelve and sixteen people, including the Benefice choir. The monthly communion service (alternate months Book of Common Prayer, and Common Worship) normally attracts between six and eight. The church is generally well attended for the Christmas Eve Carol Service and, reflecting its farming origins, the Harvest Festival. The local churchgoers are a lively group, actively involved in village matters, including events at the village hall and the production of a monthly village newsletter. The church itself is a mixture of medieval and Victorian. The church and its environs are well maintained on a routine basis thanks to the efforts of a small band of people, not all of whom are church goers. A Quinquennial review was carried out in 2019 and recommendations are being acted upon and reviewed. The bells were re-hung at the millennium, using an anonymous donation, and there is an enthusiastic team of bellringers drawn from the surrounding villages.